Gorillas in the Mist

View Date: 11/21/09

This is the story of Dian Fossey, who studied and died among mountain gorillas in the mountains of Africa. It shows her first starting off studied the group of animals, and particularly how her interactions with them allowed them to trust her. The way she studied them allowed her to learn more about how they act in social groups than any prior researcher. This is particularly evident as she compares her successes with those of the former preeminent scientist on gorilla studies.

It goes on to show her great work with the silverback gorilla, whom she named Digit. She was able to make herself such a part of their group that the animals started treating her like one of their own, as they copied each others movements to become more acquainted with each other.

The movie also detailed her courageous and sometimes insane fight against poachers. She started off by disabling their traps, but once they killed 5 adults to get a baby gorilla, she started going to more extremes. She employed her own group of rangers to protect against poachers, but money always won out. One day, they were hunting another child and killed the silverback she had grown so fond of. They beheaded him and chopped off his hands to sell as ashtrays. After that, she went quite a bit mad, and made more enemies than was good for her.

Throughout it all, she was accompanied by a tracker and friend, Sembagare. He was her best friend, and was always on her side throughout her struggles. She left a fiance behind in the US before departing for Africa, and had one lover that is known of while on her mountain.

Aside from some really bad 80s music, this movie was great. The cinematography was spectacular, and the scenes with the gorillas brought the viewer closer than seeing them in zoos, even though you're not seeing them in real life. It was like you could reach out and touch the animals, and see the beauty in them the way Ms. Fossey did.

10 words or less: Beautiful feature about beautiful creatures.